Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 13, 2017
Every Rosa puzzle is a special pleasure but this one is a real gem. I found it easy, smooth, witty and delightful. My clue of the week is 1a (HIPPOPOTAMUSES). Other clues that I find brilliantly artful include 10a (IBSEN), 11a (ROYAL BLUE), 13a (THERESA), 19a (WATER MAIN), 3d (PONZI) and 6d (MALLEABLE).
| Across | ||
| 1 | HIPPOPOTAMUSES | They wallow in shoot-’em-up apps, I suspect (14) |
| Anagram (suspect) of SHOOT EM UP APPS I | ||
| 10 | IBSEN | Norwegian writer Nesbo is endlessly reviewed (5) |
| NESB[o] I[s] backwards (reviewed) | ||
| 11 | ROYAL BLUE | Label your bananas in colour (5,4) |
| Anagram (bananas) of LABEL YOUR | ||
| 12 | HEROISM | Female love is the ultimate in calm courage (7) |
| HER (female) + O (love) + IS (is) + [cal]M | ||
| 13 | THERESA | May ruffle feathers, losing face (7) |
| Anagram (ruffle) of [f]EATHERS | ||
| 14 | HEELS | State makes better shoe components (5) |
| Homophone (state) of “heals” (makes better) | ||
| 16 | NOSEBLEED | Spooner’s misfortunes necessitate a bloody complaint! (9) |
| Spoonerization of BLOWS (misfortunes) + NEED (necessitate) | ||
| 19 | WATER MAIN | Sadly I want to arrest Queen Mum, part of underground network (5,4) |
| ER (queen) + MA (mum) together in (to arrest) anagram (sadly) of I WANT | ||
| 20 | EL CID | Castilian hero regularly sells child (2,3) |
| [s]E[l]L[s] C[h]I[l]D | ||
| 22 | GOANNAS | Grand lady surrounded by huge lizards (7) |
| G (grand) + ANNA (lady) in OS (huge). Goannas are a kind of Australian Monitor Lizard. I have heard the term before but had to look it up. | ||
| 25 | RESOLVE | Recurrent failure starts to vitiate early determination (7) |
| LOSER (failure) backwards (recurrent) + V[itiate] E[arly] | ||
| 27 | ITINERANT | Can time stop popular time traveller? (9) |
| TIN (can) + ERA (time) together in IN (popular) + T (time) | ||
| 28 | GRAZE | Skin shows signs of ageing, we hear (5) |
| Homophone of “greys” | ||
| 29 | HOUSING ESTATES | Reporting the way crime develops in residential areas (7,7) |
| Homophone of “how sin gestates” | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | INSURGENT | Revolutionary new doctor dropping Oscar in it (9) |
| N (new + SURGE[o]N (doctor dropping Oscar) together in IT (it) | ||
| 3 | PONZI | Pyramid architect in romp on ziggurat (5) |
| Hidden word with a cryptic definition referring to swindler Charles Ponzi | ||
| 4 | PYROMANIA | Drive to light and extremely pretty country (9) |
| P[rett]Y + ROMANIA (country) with another cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | TRYST | Go over road for assignation (5) |
| TRY (go) + ST (road) | ||
| 6 | MALLEABLE | Plastic casings removed from smaller cables (9) |
| [s]MALLE[r] [c]ABLE[s] | ||
| 7 | SALVE | Comfort derived from phrasal verbs (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 8 | STEWARD | Manager of St Johnstone, finally topping division (7) |
| ST (st) + [johnston]E + WARD (division) | ||
| 9 | EIGHTH | Fraction of distance from head to foot, top to toe (6) |
| HEIGHT (distance from head to foot) with the first letter (H) moved to the end (top to toe) | ||
| 15 | SERENGETI | Develop green site in national park (9) |
| Anagram (develop) of GREEN SITE | ||
| 17 | SENORITAS | Hispanic misses most mockery I’ve picked up (9) |
| SATIR[e] (most mockery) + ONES (I’ve) all backwards (picked up) | ||
| 18 | EXCULPATE | Puce latex, bafflingly free of charge (9) |
| Anagram (bafflingly) of PUCE LATEX and another cryptic definition | ||
| 19 | WAGGISH | Amusing desire to eat a horse on the radio (7) |
| A GG (a horse on the radio) in (to eat) WISH (desire) | ||
| 21 | DEEMED | Thought of Rosa Klebb in action (6) |
| ME (Rosa Klebb) in DEED (action) | ||
| 23 | ADIEU | Texting you after a long goodbye (5) |
| A (a) + DIE (long) + U (texting you) | ||
| 24 | SLANG | Leader of Lazio dons “squealed”, in common parlance (5) |
| L[azio] in SANG (squealed) | ||
| 26 | SIGMA | Letter asking YMCA to exclude odd individuals (5) |
| [a]S[k]I[n]G [Y]M[C]A | ||
Arachne (and Picaroon) both faultless. Long may they set.
Thanks Rosa & Pete. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. Thanks for the explanation of 29 across — clear enough once it’s pointed out!
To be ultra-pedantic I think it’s (29ac) ‘”how sin” gestates’. If it’s a homophone of “how sin gestates” then there is a soft g there which is not in the term ‘housing estates’. Assuming that everyone pronounces the g of gestates as a soft g. One never quite knows with homophones.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
It’s always good to see this setter’s name in the banner and it was the usual treat here. No real problems with except that I couldn’t parse SENORITAS which now I see was not all that hard.
GOANNAS was pretty straightforward for me – once I saw the word play. Seeing the word brought back a funny memory – years ago my dad used to keep a saw-bench (a machine to cut wood into foot blocks to burn in stoves and heaters) in my cousin’s paddock where we used it to cut up the fallen trees on his property. One particular day my brother was having trouble getting the motor on it started. Eventually he did, with a loud bang, a puff of black smoke and a very angry blackened goanna (who had been sleeping in the exhaust pipe) was ejected out. It took one look, saw my brother who immediately bolted away with said angry goanna hot on his trail – the rest of us still laugh about it 30 odd years on !!
Mostly agree with Wil@3’s comment on 29a – think that it lies somewhere in between the grammatically correct interpretation (apart from the pronunciation of the soft ‘g’) and the humour in the surface as has been written.
Finished up with EIGHTH which was quite easy after I saw it – not so until I did.
That’s a great story, Bruce, thank you!